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Weekend driving ban may be necessary to meet ‘net zero’ targets, Germany’s transport minister warns citizens

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Unless Germany changes its “net zero” pollution goals, drivers will soon have to face restrictive measures such as being banned from driving on certain days of the week.

In a letter to parliamentary group leaders last week, Germany’s transport minister warned that a weekend driving ban could be an example of what would have to be implemented to reach the net zero targets.

“A corresponding reduction in traffic performance would only be possible through restrictive measures that are difficult to communicate to the population, such as nationwide and indefinite driving bans on Saturdays and Sundays,” Volker Wissing wrote, according to The Telegraph.

The minister was accused of fear-mongering by his critics and political opponents.

According to The Telegraph:

Volker Wissing’s FDP party wants the law amended so the polluting transport sector can miss carbon emissions reduction targets, as long as Germany as a whole reaches them.

But the change is opposed by the Greens, who are part of the three-way coalition with the pro-business FDP and the Social Democrats (SPD), led by Olaf Scholz, the chancellor.

Negotiations over the law have dragged on since September last year. In a bid to heap pressure on his coalition partners to amend the law, Mr Wissing said that he would have to enforce a ban on weekend driving to abide by the law unless it was changed before mid-July.

 

“The climate protection law was introduced by the centre-Right CDU when it led the government under Angela Merkel,” the outlet explained, noting that it is the ministry’s responsibility to get things back on track after “the transport sector has been consistently failing to meet its climate targets.”

Katharina Droege, the Green Party parliamentary group leader slammed Missing’s letter, saying, “It is not responsible for a minister to stir up unfounded fears.”

“Scaremongering through absurd proposals does not help climate protection in the transport sector at all, on the contrary,” Detlef Mueller, the SPD deputy parliamentary group leader, said.

“Wissing has wasted two years blocking every climate protection measure in road traffic – now he is coming up with horror scenarios so that he won’t have to do anything in the future either,” lamented Greenpeace’s Clara Thompson to the German Press Agency.

But a spokesperson for the transport ministry said: “It is a minister’s responsibility to point out the dangers.”

And Missing came to his own defense last week after his letter triggered critics.

“I told the citizens the truth. You can only save such large amounts [of pollution] by giving up cars and trucks,” he said on German radio, according to The Telegraph.

“Those like Greenpeace and the Greens, who always say that the climate protection law must remain as it is, may now be frightened by the consequences of their policies,” he added.

On social media, there seemed to be a common reaction to the potential driving ban.

1 Comment

  1. Kent on April 16, 2024 at 1:20 pm

    Is it reasonable to say that politicians who have bowed down to the ‘climate change’ scam should be exiled for life?

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